Every time I visit Ryan Neil’s International Bonsai Mirai website something new and exciting turns up. In my estimation, Ryan could quit right now and still be considered major contributor to North American bonsai (and beyond). But Ryan isn’t quitting (and he’s young), so we can expect more daring high quality bonsai for a long time.

Bonsai blessings from the Rockies

I don’t know how many of us fully appreciate the quality of bonsai material coming out of the Rocky Mountains (and other notable western mountains). I suspect the surface has barely been scratched (so to speak) and with a little intelligence and restraint, that the supply could last for our grandchildren’s grandchildren (and so on) without any serious risk to numbers or to the environment. At least, I hope this is the case. In this vein, I think Andy Smith’s most excellent DVD on collecting provides some very intelligent guidelines on how to make this happen. If you combine Andy’s gentle wisdom with the deep and detailed knowledge of Larch Master Nick Lenz’ (Bonsai from the Wild), you’re off to a very good start on the subject collecting.

All three of the Rocky Mountain junipers in this post belong to Ryan Neil. This one was collected in 2008 by Randy Knight of Oregon Bonsai.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Before and after. It helps to start with great stock. Still, it takes a skilled hand to successfully tackle such powerful tree. The artist is Marco Invernizzi.and as you may have noticed, the after is just right. It’s a Japanese black pine. It’s from the ‘before and after’ section of Marco’s website.

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Whatever it is, it’s wonderful. We just featured this ‘bonsai’ in our last post. Turns out it’s a fabulous fake. Or, maybe fake isn’t the right word. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that it’s a wonderful clay representation of a bonsai. The artist is Paul Finch, according to Nik Rozman.

Digging in. It just so happens that I’m in Mexico at the moment. Nothing to do with bonsai (more or less), just a little sunshine R&R. Still, why not dig in just a bit to the local scene. Here’s what the first shovel full turned up.

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Bonsai Tonight, bonsai last night and bonsai tomorrow night. This sweet Kifu shimpaku is from Bonsai Tonight. Rather than say more, I’ll just encourage you to visit this exceptional blog for yourself. Should you wonder whether it’s worth the considerable trouble of a single click, you have my word.

There’s something afoot in Nebraska. Okay, I’m on vacation and trying to stop working for today at least, so I won’t say much about my discovery of the Nebraska Bonsai Society website, except that, at a glance, it looks pretty good. Maybe there’s something afoot in the great state of Nebraska.

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Buy this book. Okay. It’s time to reveal one of my favorite books of all time. But first, a question: why don’t bonsai enthusiasts show more interest in full size trees? It’s not that there aren’t some tree lovers in our bonsai community, I’m just surprised that we aren’t all tree lovers (or am I missing something?). Anyway, enough with that. This book is the best tree book I’ve ever seen and almost the only tree book I ever use (I even read it for entertainment). It features over 700 varieties with over 2,000 color photos. It’s chock full of great info, including identification tips, range maps, abundant general info on trees and tree identification. And it has a waterproof cover! It’s a remarkable deal at 19.95, and an even more remarkable deal at Stone Lantern’s low price of 14.97. Go ahead, buy it. You’ll be thanking me for years.

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For those of us who make mistakes. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s worth at least one more mention: Andy Rutledge’s thoughtful and thought provoking Artistic Foundations of Bonsai Design is work a look. In fact, it’s worth repeated looks. The photos above are from a section titled ‘Compositional Mistakes.’

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2011? That’s so last year. Here’s one we missed. It featured Walter Pall and I’d love to hear from someone who attended. Meanwhile, you might want to check out The North Caroline Arboretum for future events.

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San Antonio. I don’t know why San Antonio popped into my mind, but it did. Here’s what I found after a five second search. I couldn’t tell how current the site is, but it’s a start if you’re interested.

Just a little taste. The two spreads below are from the tree book (above) that I want you to buy.

Friday, January 27, 2012

I had a lot of fun setting up Bay Island Bonsai’s exhibit this year. Having recently returned from Japan, I found myself looking at trees in a very different light than I had before the visit. I now get much more enjoyment from flowering and fruiting trees, and I’m even more fascinated by the idea of balance in bonsai. On that note, I’ve really appreciated the recent discussions about whether certain trees point left or right. If an idea as simple as direction can lead to such rich discussions, either the trees in question – or our understanding of said trees – offer opportunities for improvement.

The crabapple below provided some much appreciated color to BIB’s exhibit. Discussion arose, however, as to the direction of the tree. More and more, I skip past the idea of which way a given tree points and start asking which way the tree could or should point. In other words, what can be done to a tree to enhance its balance or to clarify its direction?

Crabapple

The main branches on my trident maple are fairly horizontal and somewhat similar in size. Over time I plan to vary the angles at which the primary branches extend from the trunk and create more differentiation in branch size to improve the tree’s balance. I hope that in time to make it clear that the tree moves to the left.

Trident maple – antique Chinese pot

A number of nice shimpaku made it into this year’s exhibit, including the two well-balanced trees below. Both get their sense of direction from the trunk more than from the foliage. Although people often respond strongly to direction of the upper part of the trunk or the foliage, it’s typically not enough to outweigh the sense of direction provided by the lower trunk.

Shohin shimpaku

Kifu shimpaku

A small red pine provided an interesting example. The first branch indicates strong movement to the left. The foliage suggests movement to the right. It’s tough to say which way the trunk leads the eye.

Red pine – nanban pot

I’ve always enjoyed this tree. For the exhibit, it was placed on the left side of the display, but Boon suggested that in the future it could go the other way. Tilting the tree slightly to the left made it clear that the tree has good potential to point left. Some minor branch work could complete the makeover.

Red pine – tilted

Next week I’ll post photos of trees that more clearly know where they are going.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Graham Potter of Kaizen Bonsai takes you on a rescue mission to a local demolition site where a lot of gnarly old plants are about to be bulldozed. Having dug thousands of trees from the ground Graham shares his techniques that assure survival of plants large and small. There is amazing bonsai material out there for the taking!
Read more!

How many bottles of lime sulfur were used on this monster? I find this tree to be compelling in so many ways (much has to do with shear size, power & no small amount of detail). Still, is the foliage a little too manicured and the deadwood overwrought? I’m sure there are some purists out there who might say something like that, and there’s some sense to these observations, especially if you feel that bonsai should look like trees in nature. But still… why sweat the small stuff when you’re looking at one of the more imposingly powerful bonsai you’ve ever seen (can you imagine what it looks like in real time and space?). I found the photo on the Internet Bonsai Club. It was taken by Ed van der Reek at the Noelanders’ Trophy 2012. I don’t know who the tree belongs to.

“Lime sulfur must now be registered by each manufacturer individually in every state, not just one national blanket registration, and the fees are not cheap. It simply is not cost effective for manufacturers to do this. You may have a manufacturer in your state who has registered in your state, but I doubt they have registered in all fifty. If they haven’t, and they ship out of state, they’re breaking the law.

However, I have now reached an arrangement with the largest manufacturer that enables me to legally purchase stock and resume wholesale supplies of JinSeal.”

Graham Potter of Kaizen Bonsai takes you on a rescue mission to a local demolition site where a lot of gnarly old plants are about to be bulldozed. Having dug thousands of trees from the ground Graham shares his techniques that assure survival of plants large and small. There is amazing bonsai material out there for the taking!
Read more!

How many bottles of lime sulfur were used on this monster? I find this tree to be compelling in so many ways (much has to do with shear size, power & no small amount of detail). Still, is the foliage a little too manicured and the deadwood overwrought? I’m sure there are some purists out there who might say something like that, and there’s some sense to these observations, especially if you feel that bonsai should look like trees in nature. But still… why sweat the small stuff when you’re looking at one of the more imposingly powerful bonsai you’ve ever seen (can you imagine what it looks like in real time and space?). I found the photo on the Internet Bonsai Club. It was taken by Ed van der Reek at the Noelanders’ Trophy 2012. I don’t know who the tree belongs to.

“Lime sulfur must now be registered by each manufacturer individually in every state, not just one national blanket registration, and the fees are not cheap. It simply is not cost effective for manufacturers to do this. You may have a manufacturer in your state who has registered in your state, but I doubt they have registered in all fifty. If they haven’t, and they ship out of state, they’re breaking the law.

However, I have now reached an arrangement with the largest manufacturer that enables me to legally purchase stock and resume wholesale supplies of JinSeal.”

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

I think this wonderfully convoluted beast belongs to Yusuf Sirait; at least it appears on his facebook page. It’s a Pemphis acidula (Santigi).

Bonsai paradise

I wonder just how common naturally contorted wild bonsai stock are on the islands of Indonesia. Based on what I’ve seen online and elsewhere, it’s easy to get the impression that they are so abundant that all you have to do is walk out your door, bend over and pick a few. Somehow though, I doubt that’s the case. If fact, I seem to remember photos from Robert Steven’s Mission of Transformation, that show Robert and friends going to a considerable amount of trouble (even dangerous trouble) to collect wild trees (here’s a relevant post from 2009). Still, Indonesian bonsai artists seem to come up with an endless supply of high quality collected bonsai, and the ones shown here are no exception.

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The wild contortions on this one are a bit more expansive, but nature’s ravages combined with skilled human hands make for the same delightful results. This one belongs to Budi Sulistyo (author of Tropical Bonsai Gallery). The photo is from ofbonsai.org.

Bay Island Bonsai was fortunate this year to have Daisaku Nomoto around to help with its 13th annual exhibit.

Daisaku Nomoto

Nomoto, Boon’s senpai at Kihachi-en, wired trees, prepared moss top-dressings, and carried many trees before, during, and after the exhibit. Somewhere along the way, he took a liking to a Western juniper. So much so, it became the recipient of the first Daisaku Nomoto Bonsai Award.

The winning tree – Western Juniper

Nomoto is a fan of trees styled in this fashion. The tree has a somewhat bunjin-gi feeling, but has a more substantial trunk and silhouette than typical bunjin bonsai. The tree is full, healthy, and well balanced. I’ll add that it points to the right.

Having seen the tree develop since it was collected, I can say that it’s come a long way in a very short time. It is a deserving recipient of the first Daisaku Nomoto Bonsai Award.

I think this wonderfully convoluted beast belongs to Yusuf Sirait; at least it appears on his facebook page. It’s a Pemphis acidula (Santigi).

Bonsai paradise

I wonder just how common naturally contorted wild bonsai stock are on the islands of Indonesia. Based on what I’ve seen online and elsewhere, it’s easy to get the impression that they are so abundant that all you have to do is walk out your door, bend over and pick a few. Somehow though, I doubt that’s the case. If fact, I seem to remember photos from Robert Steven’s Mission of Transformation, that show Robert and friends going to a considerable amount of trouble (even dangerous trouble) to collect wild trees (here’s a relevant post from 2009). Still, Indonesian bonsai artists seem to come up with an endless supply of high quality collected bonsai, and the ones shown here are no exception.

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The wild contortions on this one are a bit more expansive, but nature’s ravages combined with skilled human hands make for the same delightful results. This one belongs to Budi Sulistyo (author of Tropical Bonsai Gallery). The photo is from ofbonsai.org.